Cocturarius Kili’Kia Sorento (Kia)
Early Life Kia was born in 1817 to Erwin (father) and Nona (mother) and moved to the Last Colony when she was 40. She spent much of her life following around her mother who created the Mystic Spot, a tourist trap for those visiting the Last Colony. There, she learned how to handle animals and track down those that became lost or escaped, as well as showmanship to the tourists. By the time she was 75, she created her own portion of the Mystic Spot in which she would, for an additional fee, take people out into the “wild” jungle and show them strange rock formations and waterfalls or would track down rarer species. It was on one of these trips that she encountered Tiki, her monkey companion. She rescued him from an alligator and nursed him back to health. They have been inseparable ever since. Kia's Family * Erwin (father) * Nona (mother) * Alir (older brother) * Roben (younger brother) Kia's Accomplishments Life for Kia has been anything but normal from her birth, but events in recent years have made her into a bit of a folk hero. The Beast in the East Kia had heard rumors circulating in the taproom of The Smiling Crocodile of a beast that had been terrorizing a small neighborhood on the eastern side of town. She went to investigate and found homes that had been ransacked and broken. She talked to a girl who had been attacked by the beast. She showed Kia the claw marks on her side as well as a tuft of fur that she had grabbed while trying to fight this beast. Kia identified it as a panther and started to track the beast down. That night, she saw it emerge from the shadows near the houses. It started viscously attacking homes, bridges, anything that seemed to get in its way. She also saw that it was foaming at the mouth. Kia concluded that it must have contracted a parasitic spore in the jungle that can make animals loose their minds. She quickly dispensed of the panther, killing it in a single, well-timed, arrow shot. She decided to keep its pelt as a reward instead of taking the townsfolk’s money. She turned it into a cloak that could easily disguise her in the jungle. The Caper of the Cold Iron The Last Colony is known for its mining of cold iron and this is its major export. The dwarves come down from their snowy mountains to help mine the cold iron. For years, all of the cold iron has been going back across the sea to the Mammoth Mountains to help build the Cold Iron Gate and defend against the fey. The mines themselves were deadly. The cold iron was not easily found near the surface and the dwarves had to dig deep into the ground to find it. Rumors started circulating, first in the mines, and then within the town, of a demon who guarded one of the mineshafts. It was said that he was an dwarf that had become so obsessed with finding cold iron that he had gone mad digging too deep. His skin was as white as milk, his eyes pale and pupil less, his hair and beard as white as sheep’s wool. He would chase off intruders that got too close to his mineshaft with a pickaxe, screaming bloody murder. Kia found this story fascinating and asked Adalbert, one of the regular dwarves miners that frequented the tavern, if he could take her to see the shaft. Adalbert took her down to the entrance of the shaft, but would take her no further in. She decided to continue on her own, hoping to see the specter. She did encounter him, just as everyone had described. She fled the tunnel and decided that that was that. But, when she got home, she noticed that she had a white powder on her boots. She asked Adalbert what it was the next day. He told her that it was dust from the rocks that they mined. It got everywhere and, if you inhaled too much, it would give you a terrible cough. She decided that maybe there was more to this than met the eye. She devised a plan and went back to the mines. This time, she snuck quietly through the tunnel, looking around for any signs of the ghost. She saw more of the white powder and found footprints in the dirt. Eventually Kia found 3 dwarves mining the largest cold iron deposit Kia had ever seen. Deciding that she should tell the foreman, she turned to leave, but was met face-to-face with the Specter. She cried out which alarmed the other three dwarves. A battle ensued, ending with Kia seeing that she could hit the Specter and he bled. She knew then what was really going on. She quickly knocked all 4 dwarves out and tied them up. She took them back to the foreman and showed him how these 4 were trying to obtain their own fortune by stealing the cold iron from the large deposit. She reveled how they used the dust from the rocks to cover one of them in it and scare away anyone who might disturb them. The foreman rewarded her with a bar of cold iron, which she fashioned into 10 arrowheads. Rumble in the Jungle Kia was taking a group of tourists on her typical route through the jungle. Weird rock site used for sacrificed!, howler monkey territory to them roar!, waterfall at this folks, the back side of water!, through the crocodile infested waters your limbs in folks! and ending with the gift shop survived the Jungle Cruise! However, on this day, she saw something that changed her life forever. They were going through the crocodile waters when she saw a small monkey hanging from a broken branch with one of his back legs bloodied. Below him, she saw a group of crocodiles starting to form up. She knew then that the tour had to be put on hold. Luckily a fog cloud quickly rolled in, shielding the view of the crocodiles. Kia used this opportunity to quickly jump from crocodile to crocodile, using them like stepping stones to get the monkey. She grabbed him, putting him into the crook of her arm and jumping back to the boat. She put him in her helmet and was starting to get them away when a large crocodile, bigger than the others, jumped at the boat, and made it partway in! Thinking quickly, Kia pulled out her machete and slashed at the croc’s head. He bit at her leg and grabbed hold of it, starting to drag her off the boat and into the water. Kia grabbed for the side of the boat, and one of her passengers hit the crocodile on the head. The crocodile let Kia go and she went and stabbed at it again. This time it was a solid hit. The croc was seriously bleeding, but wasn’t going to give up. He lunged at Kia again, but she was more then prepared this time. She plunged her hand, machete and all, into the crocodile’s mouth and pushing it upwards. It bled out quickly. Kia decided to keep the monkey, who she named Tiki, as well as the hide of the crocodile. She fashioned it into some sturdy leather armor and the meat was used in a wonderful curry her father made for The Smiling Crocodile. It was a hit. The Howling Hermit Kia would spend weeks or even months exploring the jungle. With Tiki as her companion, the duo would explore further than anyone else had ever explored before. They found all sorts of fascinating creatures, such as an ankylosaurus and her young, a t-rex fighting a giant alligator, and a mass of poisonous frogs that covered the forest floor for a few miles. (Who knows for sure what they were actually doing or going, but it was fascinating and terrifying all at the same time) Kia worked on creating more useful ways to protect her from some of the more deadly creatures in the jungle. She created a device that, when she pulled at a string attached to a small device on her back, a skeleton that had pieces of especially hardened bark would pop up and place this extra armor on her. It made it just a little hard to move around as stealthily as she normally would, which is why she would only use it in more dire situations. She also became better at calming animals and even started to learn their body language. It felt like she could understand them at times. During these trips out into the jungle, Kia would sometimes see big swatches of destruction with parts of the jungle blown up or destroyed. Not in a way of a rampaging animal, but in a magical way. She would try to see if the animals in the area reacted to it in any way but fear, but it seemed like they had no more idea than she did. Kia started trying to find a pattern in the destruction, but the only leads she had were a couple of indistinguishable footprints. Eventually Kia found who was causing this destruction. A hermit was living in the jungle. He was dirty and it was hard to tell anything about him. Dirt and grime covered him from head to toe. She offered him some food and he offered up his name, Aplaxos Plex. She couldn’t remember it, so she would just call him Doc. The hermit didn’t seem to mind too much, so she didn’t think anything else of it. She told him that she could bring him back stuff from town if he would let her so she would feel better about him being out in the jungle all alone. He agreed. Kia would not always see Doc, he would sometimes run from her, but she would leave bundles of blankets or food or supplies for him and leave. She treated him how she would treat any wild animal that hadn’t yet been tamed all the way. She saw that wildness in his eye and had seen what he could do.